World's First 'Upcycled' High-Rise

The latest addition to the Sydney skyline, Quay Quarter Tower was designed to revitalise the business district.

- Sasha Gonzales

location Sydney, NSW, Australia

building area 102,000 sqm

year of completion 2022

architect/design firm 3XN

lead architect/designer Kim Herforth Nielsen, Fred Holt, Alyssa Murasaki Saltzgaber

collaborating architect BVN (QQT was designed by 3XN and developed in partnership with BVN)

landscape ASPECT Studios

award Building of the Year World Architecture Festival 2022 Awards

Sydney Harbour has a new iconic structure. Quay Quarter Tower (QQT), located at 50 Bridge Street in Circular Quay, is a spectacular high-rise project that was designed from the inside out and with people top of mind.

QQT was recently named "Building of the Year" at the World Architecture Festival 2022 Awards in Lisbon, Portugal, and the winner of the 2022 International Highrise Award. It is also recognised as the most comprehensive transformation ever completed, stripping back the existing AMP Centre and giving it new life as a "vertical village" that redefines the future of work.

new lease of life

The brief centred around finding a way to revitalise the original structure, which was built in 1976 and nearing the end of its usable and leasable life.

"The client, AMP Capital, was keen to explore how they could continue to use what they already had. Transformation was a part of the brief from the beginning, but how that looked or worked was entirely up for interpretation," says Fred Holt, Partner and Director of 3XN Architects in Sydney.